The present invention relates generally to the field of computing, and more specifically, to computer systems.
Generally, critical computer systems may be protected against unexpected power loss. For example, in case of unexpected power loss to critical computer systems, important data stored in the system cache may be written to non-volatile storage, a process called cache vaulting. Typically, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or battery backup unit (BBU) may be used to supply electric power to facilitate the cache vaulting process in case of the unexpected power loss. The BBU may differ from an auxiliary/emergency power system or standby generator in that the BBU may provide near-instantaneous protection from input power interruptions by supplying energy stored in batteries, supercapacitors, or flywheels. The battery runtime of a BBU may be relatively short (typically a few minutes) but sufficient enough to start a standby power source, perform cache vaulting, properly shut down the protected equipment of the critical computer system, or keep the system running in case the power loss is intermittent and the main power supply may return shortly. For example, multiple BBUs may be used to provide electric power to system enclosures associated with systems that may include racks of servers to perform cache vaulting to non-volatile storage, such as solid state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs).